Empty Dance

Each slowly measured bit of time felt like infinity for Saki. The intensity of her focus heightened beyond what she thought possible for her. She needed this single moment. A piece that she could build her fight from. Otherwise only death awaited her. The dodge would decide everything. Her mind fixed on that moment pushing her.

It was over immediately.

Less than a second passed in real time, not even so much as half of one was needed. Kokonemu hit her blind spot with ease. Saki went flying from the force of the hit tumbling end over end up the foothills into the mountain. Her body crashed into the earth with a crater and smoke.

Kokonemu looked down at her hand pondering it in silence with Saki gone. She stood deep in thought not following after her. Despite the fight starting for real, she still casually went about the effort. The hit had nothing casual about it though.

Pain shot through Saki’s body. The hit on the mountain side did little to compare the one in her cheek from the demon. It left a stinging mark on her face. Saki pulled herself out of the earth leaning forward, unable to see out of the debris and smoke that rained down around her. ‘Dammit! I couldn’t do anything!’

In the instant that the punch came, Saki could feel it. It was subtle, but she sensed it through the air with the force of pressure. But her body was too slow to react to it. None of it mattered that she sensed it almost after the hit. She was just too slow. “This demon may just be out of my league… I wonder what it is like dying in a virtual world. Is it going to be real or fake like a game over screen? Will I wake up in the real world finally?”

Saki’s mind had become surprisingly pessimistic about her chances with the fight. Only a single punch was thrown and it already had reached the conclusion of the fight. She stood up slowly, her body still well enough to move. The hit hadn’t knocked as much as she thought out of her. “I hate being this out-classed… It’s just not fair…”

Moving the dust and veil with a strike of her arm through the air, Saki could see once more the demon below her. They just waited for her to return patiently. Had things been different and she had the demon’s position she would have charged forward immediately to put an end to the fight. Their power difference was clear, there was no reason to drag it out.

“So she’s like Yuki and Seiji, she prefers the battle and wants it to continue.” Saki slowly made her way out of the crater. Her mind already started to put together failed attempts against the demon. She hadn’t even seen what abilities make this demon special or unique. In all honesty, it would be a waste to use on her. Just a punch would be enough for how powerful the demon was. “This is so pointless. She wants more of a fight and is going to just watch me fail…I’ll never understand people like her.”

Chapter 453 – Empty Dance

Out of the crater, Saki managed to get enough of her courage back to sprint the rest of the way. She popped back up in front of the demon. Kokonemu greeted her in silence, expecting the fight to continue. It was about the only clear thing that Saki could see on her face. With how casual and passive she remained about everything so far it was hard to see through most of her feelings or thoughts. The only thing she communicated was the eagerness for more, even stifled down as that enthusiasm was. “You could have finished it.”

“True, you were off guard. But I still have my pride as a warrior. I’m not interested in a cheap kill.”

‘She really does want this to drag out. She’s wanting to enjoy a fight after having been asleep for years…I guess I can understand that a little…’ Saki tried to find her defense as pointless as it was against such an enemy. ‘But it just means pain for me…’

It was just a fact that she knew that she had to accept. This was what she woke up today to face. The real possibility of death, even though it hadn’t really hit her until she began to face down Kokonemu. Somehow in the back of her mind, she just accepted that they would figure out a way. Maybe the Demon Lords weren’t as powerful as they feared or they were stronger than they realized and could stand up against them. There were possible scenarios where things weren’t just a one-sided fight like they silently understood the reality to be.

The delay in their fight ended as Kokonemu disappeared once more. Even in the face of such a passive individual, she had a surprisingly aggressive approach. She wanted the fight that she thought Saki would give her. Yet, none of it turned out the way that she wanted. Saki couldn’t manage a defense or evasion to any of the attacks from Kokonemu.

Against the giant woman, Saki could only take each hit directly. She tried to dodge and evade, but there was nothing that her body could do. Every hit was always too late for her to make a difference. Each punch threatened more to turn her into a raspberry. Her body took the hits well enough, but the pain continued to spread further.

Saki still managed to stay up despite all of the hits. ‘…damn…not sure how I’m still standing after all of this…I wish she’d stop toying with me…’ Clenching her fists, she tried to dodge the next attack, but failed and fell on her back. Her head dropped to the ground as she didn’t move. Nothing was working against the demon. She saw through her feints and illusions. She was just too quick for her. ‘I have…my pride too…’

While Saki laid on the ground the demon halted the attack. It had been like before waiting for Saki to get back to her feet. Another frustrating moment that left her completely at the whims of the demon. Saki struggled a little with her body to get it to lift up. Her breath ran a little ragged from blows that she took and the stress on her body. ‘…getting fatigued already…’ she complained internally.

Kokonemu took a step back away from Saki and seemed to be doing more than just waiting. The pensive look on her face returned. She stared at Saki deeply with a piercing gaze. It seemed like she was searching for something that Saki had. The fight couldn’t continue until she had found it.

Softly Saki muttered to the demon, “What?” She was getting tired of this being dragged out so long just to please her needs for a fight.

“You’re weak.”

A bit of anger popped up in a vein along her forehead over that remark, but it passed quickly. “Just figuring that out now? So much for a thousand years of experience.”

“No, I mean right now. You’ve gotten weaker than before.”

“You’ve been pummeling me for the last minute, what did you expect to happen?”

“You were much stronger at the beginning, but it’s not because of any injury. You just aren’t putting anything into the fight like you were before.”

Saki glared in frustration at the demon for all the effort that she put into the fight. “You think I gave up?! I’m still in this fight! I don't want to just die here!” She stood up with her emotions starting to bubble up to the surface.

“No, I can tell. You aren’t giving it your all anymore. You’ve given up.”

“What?! How dare you…”

“You’re only putting in enough effort. You seem to believe you can’t win already.”

The demon really started to get under her skin now. “I haven’t given up!” Saki pounded the ground with her feet to throw her forward into the fight, launching her fist straight at the demon with no finesse. It hit squarely in her chest, but did nothing to even nudge her from her stop. All she got was a bit of a gust of wind for her troubles.

“That’s a little better, but you’re still holding back and fearful. Where are those eyes I saw before that made you so interesting?” Kokonemu leaned down to Saki demanding an answer from her for the failure that she was seeing out of Saki. But Saki didn’t have an answer for the woman. She jumped away to get distance.

She knew the punch would do nothing. Anger got the better of her and nothing could stop her. Her body was shaking and sweating. The look that she got from the demon wasn’t the same as before. That casual stare that didn’t seem to stress about anything disappeared. One of serious and deadly purpose appeared carrying disappointment on its backs.

The demon had her cornered. There was nothing that she was going to be able to do. ‘What the hell do you want from me?! You won’t just kill me and you won’t fight unless I’m dying! This is so stupid!’

‘Not everyone fights for the same reasons as you, Saki,’ replied Yuki within her mind.

‘Are we really doing this again?’

‘You’re the one needing encouragement.’

‘This is so heavy handed.’

‘You’re deflecting. You normally would have just snapped and made me shut up.’ Saki grumbled internally at Yuki’s keen awareness of her thoughts, though he was something that was created within her so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. ‘You’re not being yourself. It’s not like you to just accept death without a fight.’

‘What do you expect?! This enemy is beyond me and not by a little bit, but by stupid amounts. I don’t even compare to her.’

‘And you did against Rheia?’

‘That was different, I knew what I was up against.’

‘How is it different? She was the strongest person you faced up to that point. If she wanted she could have killed you in an instant. But still you fought her head on not thinking about the consequences.’

‘It’s different!’

‘No, it’s the same! You’ve just gotten used to it.’

Saki staggered back from Yuki as he appeared clearly in her mind. His form took on a stronger shape as he spoke to her. It had a surprisingly intimidated aura about him in his lecturing despite his usual appearance. ‘Wh-what?! What are you talking about?’

‘I’m saying you’re used to winning. Every fight you’ve been in since you’ve gotten your powers you won. You’ve been so successful that you got used to winning. And now that you face something beyond you, you’re scared. You’re throwing in the towel without even really trying.’

‘No, you’re wrong!’

‘You only want to win when it’s certain!’

‘Yuki!’

‘That’s not the Saki I know!’

‘Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!’

‘No, you need to listen to yourself! Take some of your own advice you gave Yumi and stand up!’

‘Yuki…YUKI!’ Anger grew intensely in Saki as she listened to Yuki berate her more and more. ‘You don’t get to stand there with your infinite power and act like this is nothing! That I can just win if I try hard like Seiji!’

‘This isn’t about me! It’s about you!’

‘It’s about reality!’

‘You’re afraid!’

‘I’m going to die! That’s reality! I’ve just already figured it out, I’m not stupid like Seiji!’ Everything then slammed into Saki all at once. Her own mind played the same trick on her that she had done to Chiharu before. Saki gasped for air dropping to the ground.

Her hand slammed into the earth back to reality. The demon stood before her. Her death awaited her carrying the face of a bored and disappointed woman. This was the reality that Saki saw. ‘I’ve been dancing around it without just saying it. My body already knew. It had given up, like I had. I put everything into that one moment and failed. I convinced myself that I couldn’t win after that…’

Saki stared blankly at the demon no longer able to fight back. Everything in her mind had shut down, facing what she had been running away from all the time. She finally stopped trying to keep going. No more spirit remained in the fight. ‘I should just die now…’